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Update: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence published an open letter to Sonos customers Wednesday, apologizing for the way his company handled the announcement. Spence pledged to keep legacy products "updated with bug fixes and security patches for as long as possible," although they still will not receive new software updates, and Spence reiterated the company's commitment to creating a workaround to separate legacy products onto a secondary network and allow users to use legacy products and "modern" Sonos equipment in the same home.

"Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. I hope that you’ll forgive our misstep and let us earn back your trust," Spence added.

Original post:

Sonos has been slinging smart speakers—and tech for connecting them—to dedicated fans since 2005. This week, however, Sonos announced the end of software support for its older product lines, and many of those once-loyal customers are furious.

Software support for "legacy" product lines will end in May of this year, Sonos said Tuesday in a corporate blog post and an email sent to customers. The list of products being forced off into the tech sunset includes original Zone Players, Connect, and Connect:Amp (launched in 2006; includes versions sold until 2015), first-generation Play:5 (launched 2009), CR200 (launched 2009), and Bridge (launched 2007).

Owners of an affected product basically have two options. Either they can take advantage of Sonos' "Trade Up" program to snag a discount on new Sonos stuff, or they can keep using their old product with the understanding that inevitably, certain functions will simply begin to fail over some long, unspecified period of time.

Further Reading

For users who do elect to keep their old equipment, there is an important caveat: any Sonos system is only as current as its oldest, weakest link. Basically, if you have a discontinued legacy device hooked up to newer, supported Sonos devices, the current devices will also be unable to receive software updates after the May 2020 cutoff. That's the bad news, but here's the good: Sonos says in its customer FAQ that beginning in May, it will introduce a way for device owners to separate their unsupported hardware onto a secondary network.

Unhappy customers

In its announcement, Sonos bragged about the longevity of its products, boasting that 92 percent of all devices it has ever shipped are still in use today. But that day is apparently ending. "We've now come to a point where some of the oldest products have been stretched to their technical limits in terms of memory and processing power," Sonos said, explaining its decision.

The company added, "Ideally all our products would last forever, but for now we're limited by the existing technology" and urged owners to trade in and recycle their old devices.

Sonos promises at least five years of software support for a device from the time the company stops selling it. The newest of the products on the chopping block this week left shelves in 2015, so the company is making good on the conditions it has promised to consumers. Before the era of software updates, though, a very high-quality speaker or speaker set usually had a much longer lifespan—for example, the living room speakers my father, an audiophile who worked in radio, bought almost 35 years ago are still going strong (albeit connected to a much newer receiver). And Sonos consumers, who expected their expensive products to last longer, are mad.

A quick Twitter search for "Sonos" brings up a whole lot of pledges to boycott the company from here on out, with comments such as "No one drops thousands of dollars on high-end speakers & expects them to be rendered obsolete!" or "Gone from 'best product on the market, wouldn't buy anything else' to 'not touching with a barge pole' in one email."

Audiobrick

Sonos launched its trade-in program in late October, allowing owners of old products to upgrade to newer ones for a 30 percent discount. Trading in something old for a discount on something new is hardly a revolutionary idea; most folks who have bought a replacement smartphone or, for that matter, a new car have likely done it at least once. Sonos, however, generated hostility for its trade-in program that wireless companies and automakers don't because, unlike your old iPhone or family sedan, a Sonos device cannot be reused.

Sonos included a "recycle mode" as part of its trade-in process. Putting a Sonos device into recycle mode not only deletes all the user's personal data but effectively bricks the device permanently. Once a Sonos product has been deactivated, the company says, "the product cannot be re-added to any system or used to set up a new Sonos system, even if the product has been reset to its factory settings," and the decision to deactivate it is irreversible. Instead of bringing in old products and refurbishing or reselling them, Sonos tells users to bring them to an e-waste center or send it back to Sonos for component recycling.

A representative explained the company's reasoning to The Verge late last year, saying, "For those that choose to trade-up to new products, we felt that the most responsible action was not to reintroduce them to new customers that may not have the context of them as 10+ year old products, and that also may not be able to deliver the Sonos experience they expected."

Three weeks later, that statement about legacy products being unable to deliver the full experience has become crystal clear. Sonos in December had not yet announced publicly when support for those products would terminate but seems to have more or less put that timeline in place internally.

I have a 35 year old set of JBL speakers at home, other than a foam surround replacement, they are still rocking after all that time, while having gone through about 5 receivers over the same time. I get that wireless makes things easier but if you can run a wire, just do it. Save the pain of whether your device will be obsolete when they flip the switch at some point.

Someone dismissing the complaints of people who spent many hundreds of dollars on an ecosystem as a “nothingburger” because they can now go buy something much cheaper at IKEA...

I never thought, inferred or said that.

Except the part where you said that, you mean.

Which part are you claimimg you didn’t say.

It’s right up there for all to see, emphasis and all.

Since you ignored this part of my post, I’ll repeat it:

Which part are you claiming you didn’t say? That this entire story you’re commenting on, involving people who had bought expensive Sonos hardware, was a “nothingburger”? Or that you called it a nothingburger in the same two-line post you said you were buying IKEA goods cheaper than anything the affected people bought?

I have a 35 year old set of JBL speakers at home, other than a foam surround replacement, they are still rocking after all that time, while having gone through about 5 receivers over the same time. I get that wireless makes things easier but if you can run a wire, just do it. Save the pain of whether your device will be obsolete when they flip the switch at some point.

Thank God those days of making a product that lasts for 35-plus years are over! Now, with the invention and proliferation of "smart" products, corporations can sell more and make greater profits because of the inherent inevitability of technological limitations on maintaining perpetual support.

I just found a smart sledgehammer at Lowe's. It calculates the ambient temperature, wind speed and direction, and my swing angle and force. With each swing, it conveys correctional information to the Sledgeomatic app on my phone. I can then swing harder, softer, or adjust my position as advised by the app. I'm going out tomorrow and getting this $3,000 smart sledgehammer and throwing that old fifty-year-old sledgehammer away. I just hope that SmartSledge continues support for a few years.

I just found a smart sledgehammer at Lowe's. It calculates the ambient temperature, wind speed and direction, and my swing angle and force. With each swing, it conveys correctional information to the Sledgeomatic app on my phone. I can then swing harder, softer, or adjust my position as advised by the app. I'm going out tomorrow and getting this $3,000 smart sledgehammer

This is a fascinating and truly functional upgrade if true.

Quote:

and throwing that old fifty-year-old sledgehammer away.

You (and probably the original owner too) got your money's worth from the old one. Toss it aside and enjoy the new one with a clear conscience.

It's inevitable that "smart" speakers with integrated networking capabilities will eventually be "unsupported" and receive no further updates. There's no way that a company can/will support devices in perpetuity.

However, it would be nice if the higher end devices (like Sonos) would build their devices such that the "smart" parts were in a module that could be bypassed and/or replaced. So after support ends the speaker could be used as an "dumb" amplified speaker and if the user wanted, controlled by a new "smart" brain. The Sonos One has no Aux-In capability, so cannot be easily bypassed.

At least Sonos is better than a lot of the "off-brand" smart speakers that don't ever release any bug fixes or security updates at all.

But the advantage of most of these "off-brand" smart speakers is that they usually have Aux inputs so can be updated to be the latest smart speaker from Amazon by just purchasing one of their inexpensive "dots" during one of their many "sales" and turning off the mic.

Apologies after the fact help little in gaining our trust back. We'll see how long they support the old stuff. I dint ues Sonos, but we have kids who do. It's pretty nice. But not up to my standards for quality and functionality.

Well, of course, nothing rises to that level so far - that I can afford.

Define affordable. An old stereo receiver with a pair of solid bookshelf speakers and a self-powered Rythmik sub (all active servo based ranging from dual 8" models to their amazing G25HP dual opposed 15" model that's totally inert and the dual 15" ported model that's only outperformed by the godlike JTR 4000ULF's and PSA S7201 none of which have any kind of WAF like the Rythmik 8's) will net you a beastly system for dedicated music playback at a pretty affordable price. They'll easily outperform any wireless speaker setup you can buy at any price. Plug in a Raspberry Pi for your streaming needs and don't look back.

Someone dismissing the complaints of people who spent many hundreds of dollars on an ecosystem as a “nothingburger” because they can now go buy something much cheaper at IKEA...

I never thought, inferred or said that.

Except the part where you said that, you mean.

Which part are you claimimg you didn’t say.

It’s right up there for all to see, emphasis and all.

Since you ignored this part of my post, I’ll repeat it:

Which part are you claiming you didn’t say? That this entire story you’re commenting on, involving people who had bought expensive Sonos hardware, was a “nothingburger”? Or that you called it a nothingburger in the same two-line post you said you were buying IKEA goods cheaper than anything the affected people bought?

The current plan to continue supporting legacy components will, if it works, go a long way towards placating the folk who have a significant investment in gear that still works and who don't want to scrap it.

Granted, those who have a mixture of old and new gear will still be faced with a hassle but not as bad as having to throw away the legacy equipment. And those with older gear (and no newer stuff) should hardly notice any difference. All in all, and with the caveat that it actually works, this is much better than the previous episode.

The big question is why, when several people suggested more or less exactly this solution the last time that Sonos bricked hardware (the CR100 controllers), did they not adopt it then? What has changed?

The answer is probably, technically nothing. The last time they forcibly retired customers' hardware, they thought they could get away with it. This time (I'm guessing) they foresee a potential existential threat, so are willing to implement something that was previously off the table.

It still won't help me because the legacy build that they end up supporting almost certainly won't support (my still functioning) CR100s, but I can see that it will help a lot of Sonos customers who aren't running gear as old as mine, so there's that.

For the newcomers to this story: the CR100 controller was sold between 2005 and 2009. I'm not complaining about the support from Sonos up until mid 2018; it was superb. The change came shortly after they got a new CEO — I'm not alone in seeing a causal connection between that and the sudden retirement of older hardware, of which this is just the latest example — but I still don't understand why it wasn't (and isn't) possible to continue to support the older hardware with limited functionality rather than just dropping it altogether.

I suspect the reason was never technical and perhaps, if they are facing the possibility of going out of business, they might yet change their mind and the legacy build will support the CR100s. One can hope (and pigs might fly). But even if Sonos don't resurrect the CR100, it's still a better outcome than the last time around.

Its ridiculous to sunset, brick or cause to fail any connected device if the system around it does not change. Bluetooth will keep working, these devices should too. Same for wifi. If I want to keep the XP, Windows for Workgroups, server running Windows NT, that's all on me, asking no support and expecting none. Once I connect to something new, a different matter. But disabling speakers, that's just because the maker can, not should.

I have a 35 year old set of JBL speakers at home, other than a foam surround replacement, they are still rocking after all that time, while having gone through about 5 receivers over the same time. I get that wireless makes things easier but if you can run a wire, just do it. Save the pain of whether your device will be obsolete when they flip the switch at some point.

Thank God those days of making a product that lasts for 35-plus years are over! Now, with the invention and proliferation of "smart" products, corporations can sell more and make greater profits because of the inherent inevitability of technological limitations on maintaining perpetual support.

I just found a smart sledgehammer at Lowe's. It calculates the ambient temperature, wind speed and direction, and my swing angle and force. With each swing, it conveys correctional information to the Sledgeomatic app on my phone. I can then swing harder, softer, or adjust my position as advised by the app. I'm going out tomorrow and getting this $3,000 smart sledgehammer and throwing that old fifty-year-old sledgehammer away. I just hope that SmartSledge continues support for a few years.

One of many reasons capitalism needs to go and need to go a long time ago.

Cutting off support for no reason is a feature and not a bug. Everyone needs to remember that.

One of many reasons capitalism needs to go and need to go a long time ago.

Cutting off support for no reason is a feature and not a bug. Everyone needs to remember that.

Capitalism is really the only way to get rapid, interesting, relevant, and useful technological advancement short of stealing said advancements from other nation states with capitalism. It's a great motivator. But capitalism still needs regulation.

And the great failure with technology and capitalism we're seeing not making software and technology play by the existing consumer protection laws. It started getting brought up in the late 90's when we started seeing the early effects on consumers and commerce of large swaths of time lost to buggy software and crashes (ahem Windows 3.0-98). People talked about software liability, just as early in the 2000s they talked about advertising standards for the web to parallel broadcast television.

The industry circled the wagons post MS antitrust actions, legislatures took their campaign contributions, and society suffered. Programmers began the public conversation that software is too complicated to not be just brimming with bugs and we should count ourselves lucky everyday we don't see a BSOD (hell, ever enable Force Close notifications in Android?).

While the US is massively too litigious in most scenarios, liability is a major component to self regulation of engineered products which represent a safety and suitability concern. Security vulnerabilities are software defects. Rowhammer is a hardware defect. Spectre and Meltdown are hardware implementation defects. Consider just how those latter hardware defects have been handled versus the Pentium FDIV defect -- which is less likely to occur statistically than a successful Meltdown or Rowhammer attack.

When a website partners with an advertising network which spreads malware, that website needs to pay to make you whole from the loss. This isn't hard to understand responsibility and public safety standards.

With the liability issue a genie long since out of the bottle, then the next step is regulation at the very least defining appliances versus software platforms. Appliances should have to work with 100% functionality, in a safe manner, as long as the hardware runs with physical integrity. And the defining line is the primary functionality a physical manifestation of function means it's an appliance versus a software platform is to flexibly run a variety of 1st and 3rd party software arbitrarily chosen by the end user / administrator. A Roku is still an appliance because the primary function is to display to a TV. Speakers are appliances. Toasters are appliances. And so on. Smartphones, PCs, laptops, and tablets are software platforms. In exchange, software platforms should not be vendor locked to App Stores and similar.

Possibly-unpopular opinion: for any connected device, discontinuation of service is not only inevitable, but necessary and a good idea. It takes engineering resources to keep Internet-of-Crap devices safe when exposed to the world. The two options available, 1) spending an ever-increasing fraction of your engineering resources on increasingly-obsolete gear, 2) not keeping these devices safe when exposed to the world, both suck.

You know what you're buying into when you buy a smart device, or you should.

There can, of course, be thoughtful quibbling on just how long a lifespan is appropriate.

I imagine TLS 1.2 support was one of the things on this list that would force older devices to be obsolete. The hardware required for secure connectivity increases every year.

TLS 1.2 isn't particularly more resource-intensive than 1.0 or 1.1. There were just a lot of cases where people didn't want to be bothered to update their software.

One problem that many have had with Sonos systems over the past couple years was its lack of support for SMB 2/3 and NTLMv2. I'm thinking that sunsetting these components may be a way to help resolve the problem. Currently, it is challenging to have a Sonos system safely access a local music repository (NAS or shared drive) without potentially creating a wormable hole in your local network. Personally, I had three Connect devices (purchased in 2017) that I replaced with Port devices partly in the hope that this problem is fixed in the future. I may be a sucker, of course, as I really don't think the devices will lose much functionality (at least the way I use them) in the near future.

Agree re: SMB1 limitations. I was told the memory limitations of the oldest hardware I had was the constraining factor regarding support of newer SMB. I certainly hope they continue to support local fileshares with newer SMB -- it's the primary motivator I have to consider buying new Sonos hardware.

Its ridiculous to sunset, brick or cause to fail any connected device if the system around it does not change. Bluetooth will keep working, these devices should too. Same for wifi. If I want to keep the XP, Windows for Workgroups, server running Windows NT, that's all on me, asking no support and expecting none. Once I connect to something new, a different matter. But disabling speakers, that's just because the maker can, not should.

Part of the problem here is that these aren’t just speakers. The brains are really tiny servers baked into speakers; it’s not just Bluetooth or WiFi, the “beauty” of Sonos is that the “speaker” is smart enough to keep playing without keeping your phone connected. You can connect a Sonos speaker to Spotify, and it’ll stream directly from Spotify through its speakers. If your phone runs out of battery, or you need to take a call in another room, it’s fine, the music keeps playing.

So I get it. It’s not as simple as just “the speaker should still work.” These aren’t dumb like Bluetooth speakers, they’re inherently dependent on constantly evolving online services, they’ve got to stay updated to keep connecting properly to services like Spotify, Apple Music, etc.

It still sucks that their larger, more expensive models aren’t built with a way to replace the tiny server components inside, since it’s not wanting to maintain older hardware that’s the problem. The speaker outlives the CPU, but gets thrown away with it? It would be nice if they used something like the RPi Compute Module inside, or even a proprietary equivalent—they could still make money selling upgrade boards to customers with older devices who want to keep them.

It would be nice if they used something like the RPi Compute Module inside, or even a proprietary equivalent—they could still make money selling upgrade boards to customers with older devices who want to keep them.

This right here. I think we all understand technology marches on, but they could at least provide the option. Or if the speakers are not at all designed to be taken apart and worked on, they could make sure future products *are* upgradable.

Edit: For what it's worth, my 20 year old Klipsch promedia powered speakers have both easily replaced speakers and amplifier. It's like 8 screws and then unhook the internal speaker wires. Sonos could provide a mail-in upgrade plan if they don't trust end-users playing around in there.

It would be nice if they used something like the RPi Compute Module inside, or even a proprietary equivalent—they could still make money selling upgrade boards to customers with older devices who want to keep them.

This right here. I think we all understand technology marches on, but they could at least provide the option. Or if the speakers are not at all designed to be taken apart and worked on, they could make sure future products *are* upgradable.

That would likely decrease profit. Speakers and cabinetry are pretty much low cost, high profit areas. Especially when you're manufacturing at scale and the process is almost entirely automated. You're paying a premium for looks, branding, and some minor QoL stuff. I imagine if they did go the upgrade route, you'd be charged a pretty penny for a cheap bit of hardware.

Look at Internet direct speaker companies vs certified retailer only. MSRP for a Velodyne DD18+ is $6,000. The Rythmik F18 is $1,630 (with a discount if you buy 2 subs at once). The Velodyne has a prettier cabinet (offered in piano gloss black or cherry finish with sleek rounded edges and custom lighting), on-screen display option, and remote. The Rythmik is a utilitarian square box in either black oak or matte finish with no on-screen display or remote (all settings have to be manually dialed-in on what I find to be one of the most robust plate amps I've ever seen when it comes to granular control). Meanwhile, the Rythmik offers substantially more output at lower THD (you can get even more output for a tad more THD if you opt for the paper cone version over the spun aluminum cone). Rythmik also does you much better when it comes to maintenance. Velodye will never ship you a driver if you need a new one (you have to send the entire 84 pound cabinet back to them - not easy, and not cheap). Rythmik will just send out replacement parts free during the warranty or at cost afterwards (you can even just buy the parts and build your own cabinet). The sacrifice is in looks and slightly easier setup due to the on-screen display and remote for the Velodyne unit.

In the end you need to decide if slightly easier setup and pretty aesthetics are worth the money over a better system that will last longer and provide for an easier upgrade path over time.

Just to add. Sonos is a part of the lobbyist/trade group Electronics Mfg & Equip ($60,000 paid into). Which are currently on a state by crusade to kill Right to Repair bills (along withg other trade groups). So, don't think for a moment Sonos want you to have any control over the hardware in their devices, or any right to tinker with the device you bought.

It would be nice if they used something like the RPi Compute Module inside, or even a proprietary equivalent—they could still make money selling upgrade boards to customers with older devices who want to keep them.

This right here. I think we all understand technology marches on, but they could at least provide the option. Or if the speakers are not at all designed to be taken apart and worked on, they could make sure future products *are* upgradable.

In the end you need to decide if slightly easier setup and pretty aesthetics are worth the money over a better system that will last longer and provide for an easier upgrade path over time.

Just to add. Sonos is a part of the lobbyist/trade group Electronics Mfg & Equip ($60,000 paid into). Which are currently on a state by crusade to kill Right to Repair bills (along withg other trade groups). So, don't think for a moment Sonos want you to have any control over the hardware in their devices, or any right to tinker with the device you bought.

I have a 35 year old set of JBL speakers at home, other than a foam surround replacement, they are still rocking after all that time, while having gone through about 5 receivers over the same time. I get that wireless makes things easier but if you can run a wire, just do it. Save the pain of whether your device will be obsolete when they flip the switch at some point.

Thank God those days of making a product that lasts for 35-plus years are over! Now, with the invention and proliferation of "smart" products, corporations can sell more and make greater profits because of the inherent inevitability of technological limitations on maintaining perpetual support.

I just found a smart sledgehammer at Lowe's. It calculates the ambient temperature, wind speed and direction, and my swing angle and force. With each swing, it conveys correctional information to the Sledgeomatic app on my phone. I can then swing harder, softer, or adjust my position as advised by the app. I'm going out tomorrow and getting this $3,000 smart sledgehammer and throwing that old fifty-year-old sledgehammer away. I just hope that SmartSledge continues support for a few years.

Its ridiculous to sunset, brick or cause to fail any connected device if the system around it does not change. Bluetooth will keep working, these devices should too. Same for wifi. If I want to keep the XP, Windows for Workgroups, server running Windows NT, that's all on me, asking no support and expecting none. Once I connect to something new, a different matter. But disabling speakers, that's just because the maker can, not should.

Part of the problem here is that these aren’t just speakers. The brains are really tiny servers baked into speakers; it’s not just Bluetooth or WiFi, the “beauty” of Sonos is that the “speaker” is smart enough to keep playing without keeping your phone connected. You can connect a Sonos speaker to Spotify, and it’ll stream directly from Spotify through its speakers. If your phone runs out of battery, or you need to take a call in another room, it’s fine, the music keeps playing.

So I get it. It’s not as simple as just “the speaker should still work.” These aren’t dumb like Bluetooth speakers, they’re inherently dependent on constantly evolving online services, they’ve got to stay updated to keep connecting properly to services like Spotify, Apple Music, etc.

It still sucks that their larger, more expensive models aren’t built with a way to replace the tiny server components inside, since it’s not wanting to maintain older hardware that’s the problem. The speaker outlives the CPU, but gets thrown away with it? It would be nice if they used something like the RPi Compute Module inside, or even a proprietary equivalent—they could still make money selling upgrade boards to customers with older devices who want to keep them.

You don't need to replace the brains. Just rely on a brainier part of the system. Every speaker currently can make that internet connection, but it can also just receive the music when a different speaker is making that internet connection. They have to, otherwise when you have a group of three speakers all playing the same music from, say, Spotify, you'd have three internet connections downloading the same thing and you'd never keep them in sync.

So, leverage that. Legacy devices should have a legacy mode where they never take the job of acquiring that music from the source, they only play it. At that point instead of legacy devices holding the system back, giving you an incentive to not add new devices, Sonos could be saying "for full functionality, every system should include one device capable of running our most current firmware." Adding one device every few years is a reasonable thing for Sonos to hope for, far more reasonable than expecting every device to be replaced every five.

You don't need to replace the brains. Just rely on a brainier part of the system. Every speaker currently can make that internet connection, but it can also just receive the music when a different speaker is making that internet connection. They have to, otherwise when you have a group of three speakers all playing the same music from, say, Spotify, you'd have three internet connections downloading the same thing and you'd never keep them in sync.

So, leverage that. Legacy devices should have a legacy mode where they never take the job of acquiring that music from the source, they only play it. At that point instead of legacy devices holding the system back, giving you an incentive to not add new devices, Sonos could be saying "for full functionality, every system should include one device capable of running our most current firmware." Adding one device every few years is a reasonable thing for Sonos to hope for, far more reasonable than expecting every device to be replaced every five.

Apparently that's exactly how Airplay currently works. You need one Airplay-capable speaker to stream to, which will then stream to the rest of your system. Looks like they were deliberately not going that route with their May update.

The number of different ways you refuse to answer is ... well, it’s getting boring, honestly.

You could talk about Sonos instead of trolling other posters.

Frontpage says 203 individuals have actively participated in this thread. We invite you to join the other 202 in talking about the subject at hand.

I’m inviting you to retract your initial unjustified scorn at existing Sonos owners for considering this a story in the first place, and for justifying that scorn by your ability to buy cheap IKEA hardware now that has nothing to do with the expensive Sonos peoducts being deprecated.

If you don’t understand how that relates to the story and the comments here, that’s your problem, not mine.

It would be nice if they used something like the RPi Compute Module inside, or even a proprietary equivalent—they could still make money selling upgrade boards to customers with older devices who want to keep them.

This right here. I think we all understand technology marches on, but they could at least provide the option. Or if the speakers are not at all designed to be taken apart and worked on, they could make sure future products *are* upgradable.

In the end you need to decide if slightly easier setup and pretty aesthetics are worth the money over a better system that will last longer and provide for an easier upgrade path over time.

On the other hand, chosing the "right" components mean you have no need for an upgrade path for decades.

The joy of being single, having a complete JTR based home theater/gaming room system. 7 2000W RMS Neosis 215RT's, 4 2000W RMS in ceiling Neosis 212RT's (so much fun mounting and reinforcing 155 pound speaker cabinets), 4 6000W RMS 4000ULF's, rack mounted Speaker Power amps for all the towers (the sub amps are Speaker Power Torpedo plate amps included with the units), with a Yamaha A3080 as the sound processor for the home theater and gaming room. At least the cabling was easy as everything is XLR. Moving around 155 to 300 pound speaker cabinets, not fun. But, who moves anything like that after installation?

Speaking to Jörmungandr, the World Serpent in God of War is a truly earth shaking experience. As 3/4 of the ceiling cans in my home can attest. I learned a valuable lesson about reinforcing those and all the valuables/knickknacks on every shelf and in every cabinet both upstairs and down. Also learned that some joker put a 10hz subsonic test tone right at the beginning of Edge of Tomorrow.

I just found a smart sledgehammer at Lowe's. It calculates the ambient temperature, wind speed and direction, and my swing angle and force. With each swing, it conveys correctional information to the Sledgeomatic app on my phone. I can then swing harder, softer, or adjust my position as advised by the app. I'm going out tomorrow and getting this $3,000 smart sledgehammer and throwing that old fifty-year-old sledgehammer away. I just hope that SmartSledge continues support for a few years.

Then you'll be thrilled to know Lowes is now carrying the $3200 SmartSledge SE, whose new SledgeomaticSE app now includes worksite illumination using the camera flash, and GPS breadcrumbs for where you have used it.

Support for the SmartSledge and its Sledgeomatic app will be discontinued in March.

Modern, high quality speakers have rubber surrounds that will last for several decades no problem. Many older and/or lower quality speakers have foam surrounds that will start to fall apart after 10-20 years. It is sometimes possible to "re-foam" speakers, but the point is, these parts wear out.

Also, most speakers that cost under, say, $1000 use electrolytic capacitors in their crossovers that will gradually lose their capacitance and eventually start leaking and stop functioning altogether. So the speaker will stop sounding good after maybe 15 years or so since the crossover won't be working as designed. Crossovers can often be repaired, but the point again is that speakers have parts that wear out.

Point being, many people see passive speakers as black boxes that never wear out and work correctly forever, but that's not actually the case.

That all being said, a high-quality passive speaker will almost certainly last a lot longer than IoT stuff. I would be reluctant to buy a high-quality speaker that relies on IoT hardware/software to function.

IMHO it is "different"when the company "BREAKS" your goods VS it DYING of "natural" causes

IMHO if I am NOT mistaken you can USE your "legacy" SONO's after the sunset date just that they and any other SONOS will not update for NEW features and they ARE looking to seperate them off onto a different net ( maybe work together but let the rest update to the latest versions

IMHO if I am NOT mistaken you can USE your "legacy" SONO's after the sunset date just that they and any other SONOS will not update for NEW features and they ARE looking to seperate them off onto a different net ( maybe work together but let the rest update to the latest versions

Their original email to customers said that your products (old and new) wouldn't get any software updates as long as there were any legacy products in your system and that the functionality of the system would be reduced. And by stating that all components need to run the same software, they also implied that you wouldn't be able to add speakers running newer software. Combine that with their "trade up" offer and they were clearly trying to scare people into ditching their legacy components in favour of new ones.

Meanwhile my 20 some-odd year old Mcintosh equipment and wilson audio speakers are as good as they've ever been. Buying "smart" entertainment devices is idiotic. I've owned two "smart" tv's and two "smart" DVD players that all stopped receiving software updates and can't use their Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon apps anymore.

That happened to my TV. BD player's apps still work. When those die, a cheap tablet with a HDMI output can be used to pull all of those in, via web site if no app is available. As long as the underlying monitor is functional (which of course is not guaranteed if the Vizios and Samsungs of the world have anything to say about it) there should be a way to inject the content.

My main worry is my pile of CDs and DVDs. Those require a device with an optical drive to play. Optical drives (and players that contain them) are vanishing from the stores (and, especially, the cars). Turntables are coming back; will we see CD players ditto?

Sony and Microsoft haven’t yet announced whether their next consoles will continue to support DVD playback, but my guess is that at least PS5 will, since Sony’s media devision still actively sells video DVDs. If my guess is correct, then you’d have at least one (admittedly overspecced) solution available at your local Best Buy for the next decade.

Frankly, I’d be more worried about Blu-ray discs than DVDs or CDs. There are enough DVDs and CDs in the world that someone somewhere will build players for them for decades to come. But Blu-ray? It wouldn’t shock me if the only players still available 20 years from now are $5000 gold-plated piece of work for “core videophiles.” (I’ve already resigned myself to the fact that my remaining collection of SACDs will not be playable in any new player I can afford.)

If Sonos is unable to figure out a way for older devices to play nice with newer ones, then perhaps the entire Sonus system isnt as great as they pretend i to be.

The software industry has figured out how do deal with different versions of software years ago. I also dont buy the statement that there are no way to get devices out of recycle mode. It software, anything can be anything you like.